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Major General Richard Stewart Dobbs (10 May 1808 – 26 September 1888), son of Rev. Richard Stewart Dobbs and Harriet Macauley, was a British civil servant. He served as the first Superintendent of Chittledroog (
Chitradurga Chitradurga is a city and the headquarters of Chitradurga district, which is located on the valley of the Vedavati river in the central part of the Indian state of Karnataka. Chitradurga is a place with historical significance and a major tou ...
) Division, in the princely state of
Mysuru Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...
(Mysore),
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
, from 1834 to 1861.
Tumakuru Tumkur, officially Tumakuru, is a city and headquarters of Tumakuru district in the Karnataka state of India. Tumkur is known for Siddaganga Matha. Tumkur hosts India's first mega food park, a project of the ministry of food processing. The Indi ...
was the then headquarters of this division. He subsequently rose to the rank of Major-General in the 9th Regiment of the Madras Native Infantry A small town, Dobbspet, located in the Nelamangala
taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...
of
Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
district, is named after him. One of the major successes during his administration, as he has recorded in his reminiscences, was that he was completely successful in nabbing most of the professional robbers (Lambanis, Koramas and Korachas) in the Chitradurga - Tumakuru region, and ridding this province of this social menace. He was a shikari and would hunt in and around
Devarayanadurga Devarayanadurga is a temple town and hill station located in the district of Tumakuru in the state of Karnataka in India. The rocky hills are surrounded by forest and the hilltops are dotted with several temples including the Yoganarasimha and t ...
hill and forests. He wrote of the presence of sambur (which the British of that time referred to as elk) near the Devarayanadurga hill top, apart from tigers in the forests around the hill. According to Dobbs, an entire dead
blackbuck The blackbuck (''Antilope cervicapra''), also known as the Indian antelope, is a medium-sized antelope native to India and Nepal. It inhabits grassy plains and lightly forested areas with perennial water sources. It stands up to high at the sh ...
would be available at the Tumakuru market for four annas (approximately 25 paise or 1/4 of an Indian Rupee). This common antelope was so abundant in the areas surrounding Devarayanadurga, that one British officer shot 200 of these magnificent creatures within a few days. He devised a new method of trapping tigers of which there plenty in the region those days. British officers also indulged in ‘pig-sticking’ or spear hunting of
wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...
as well as shooting sloth bears in the division. He narrates that the reduction of tigers and leopards in the division due to hunting led to an increase in wild boar which damaged sugarcane plantations. A tiger that was killed about four miles from Tumakuru city was skinned and the skin was gifted to a family friend in
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. He was a devout Christian who supported missionary activity and was equally enchanted by the wildlife and serenity atop Devarayanadurga hill. Though he himself did not have the gift of song, he always enjoyed the singing of hymns by his guests when sitting with them atop the hill while watching the beautiful sunsets. The
bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...
he built atop the hill is now being used as a police wireless communication centre.


Personal life

He was married to Jane Margaret Cathcart (15 April 1811 – 24 January 1892), daughter of Robert Cathcart on 18 April 1834. The couple had eleven children: eight sons, Richard Stewart Dobbs (d. 1908), Robert Cathcart Dobbs (1835 – 1914), Francis Hugh Dobbs (1838 – 1857), Alexander Fairlie Dobbs (1839 – 1912), Col. Charles Alfred Dobbs (1843 – 1871), Rev. Arthur Macaulay Dobbs (1845 – 1889), Edward Dobbs (1847 – 1918) & George Cadell Dobbs (1849 - 1925), and three daughters, Annie Dobbs, Harriet Dobbs and Jane Margaret Dobbs (1852 – 1910). His mortal remains have been interred in the Redford Cemetery,
Greystones Greystones () is a coastal town and seaside resort in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies on Ireland's east coast, south of Bray and south of Dublin city centre and has a population of 22,009, according to the 2022 census. The town is border ...
,
County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...
,
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. His epitaph reads:
"Soldier of Christ, well done
Praise be thy new employ
And while eternal ages run
Rest in thy saviour's joy"


See also

*
Bangalore Division Bangalore Division, officially Bengaluru division, is one of the four divisions of the Indian state Karnataka. The division comprises the districts of Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Chikkaballapur, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Kolar, Ramanagara ...
* Bayalu Seeme *
Kenneth Anderson (writer) Kenneth Douglas Stewart Anderson (8 March 1910 – 30 August 1974) was an Indian writer and hunter who wrote books about his adventures in the jungles of South India. Biography Kenneth Anderson was born in Bolarum, Secunderabad and came fr ...


References


Other References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobbs, Richard Stewart 1808 births 1888 deaths